Cryptography at Crypto
by believer07747
Summary: Bobby enters a new territory where clues are right under his nose, but the only thing preventing him is that they're all put in code...
1. The Code

Ok, this is a pretty short chapter. But…I was lazy when I wrote this.

The Code 

"Mark, your ring is glowing!" Courtney Chetwynde shouted in surprise.

"I thought Bobby was taking a break. Doesn't that mean we take a break too?" Mark Dimond complained. Bobby Pendragon, Courtney, and Mark were all hanging out in the Ave, enjoying the time they had together before Bobby had to go jump worlds again.

Nevertheless, he was still curious on what news the ring would send. But the Ave was full of people and the ring was quickly expanding, so they had no choice. They had resorted to the shelter where no one goes. The place that has been deserted for so long; even the bravest person dared not enter. The stench of the small, concealed area was overwhelming. Unfortunately, no other option was available. This "torture chamber" was infamously known as the dreadful…

Johnny on the Spot. Or…the portable toilet.

"Ugh, this place stinks," Courtney complained.

"Then go wait outside. Take guard or something," Mark snapped.

A few minutes later, Mark and Bobby emerged. "And here are our two brave souls, who actually came out of the Johnny alive! Do you have anything to say about that?" Courtney mused, pretending to hold a microphone.

Mark and Bobby didn't look too happy, their heads down looking at the message that was received. The two were looking at a black, plastic board, resembling that of a computer chip. On it was engraved:

J'MM CF XBJUJOH BU DSZQUP

- TBJOU EBOF

"What's it say?" Courtney wondered.

"That's what we're trying to figure out. It's…some code. Our job is to decode it and see what it says." Bobby explained.

"There's a word for that, right? It was something like crite- no, crop-"

"Cryptography," Mark said.

"Well, we better get decoding," Bobby decided. "I guess it's back to hero work."

Mark and Courtney groaned.


	2. Decoding

**Decoded**

Mark, Courtney, and Bobby all huddled around the chip-like board, puzzled at the unusual letter. "The first word has an apostrophe," Mark observed. "It looks like it starts with an I. After all, what other letter can fit before the apostrophe?"

The rest murmured in acknowledgement. "So let's replace all the J's with I's. Let me get a piece of paper or something to edit this code," Courtney said.

As she turned her back to find a sheet of paper, she heard Bobby gasp in surprise. "Courtney, don't get that paper just yet," he commanded. "I don't think we'd be needing it." As Courtney took a look at the board, she realized that as Bobby rubbed his finger over the J, the letter completely rubbed off. They also noted a small pointy tool, like the pen of a palm pilot. When Bobby took the pen and scratched it on the board, a mark appeared wherever the pen touched.

"How convenient," Courtney muttered. So through this method, they replaced all the J's with I's. As he completed each I, the characters seemed to glow a light blue. Now the code looked like this:

I'MM CF XBIUIOH BU DSZQUP

- TBIOU EBOF

"Oh, now we know _exactly_ what the code means," Courtney said in a sarcastic tone. "We're getting nowhere."

"Wait up, guys. See this double m? What other letter follows an I'?" Bobby asked.

"L is the only letter I can come up with," Courtney finally spoke after she ran through the alphabet in her head.

"Exactly! So we got the first word."

"'I'll'," Courtney read. "I'll what?

"Hey! I get it!" Mark suddenly exclaimed so loudly that Bobby almost jumped out of his seat. "Look at this," he started. "See, first we changed the J to an I. Then we changed the M to an L. See the pattern between these two sets of numbers?" Bobby raised his eyebrow, wondering what his best friend was getting at. After a moment of awkward silence, Mark finally shouted, "You bimbos! Use your brains! In the alphabet, what's the letter before J? And what's the letter before M? There's a pattern!"

"Ah hah! I see the light!" Courtney responded.

"Nice thinking, Mark. Then we can finish this code in no time." In a few minutes, after changing each letter as they glowed bright blue, they read their decoded message:

I'LL BE WAITING AT CRYPTO

- SAINT DANE

"I'll be waiting at Crypto," Bobby read aloud. His hand trembled as he held the board tightly in his hands. His eyebrows furrowed, and his eyes narrowed. "Saint Dane," he finished just as the board cracked.


	3. The Explanation

Hey guys,

I don't think I'm going to update until school is over. So you're going to have to wait about 3 months .

This chapter doesn't really have any excitement. It's just explaining the rules of the new territory.

The Explanation 

That same day, Bobby flumed to Crypto. Mark and Courtney were disappointed that they couldn't come along, but Bobby promised that with each code he received, he would send it back, like a journal. If they decoded it, they would send a message to the acolyte of Crypto to send to Bobby. Reluctantly, they agreed. A few minutes later, Mark's ring glowed. The fact that Bobby's journal (or code) was coming in a few minutes after he flumed didn't surprise them at all; in fact, they were rather bored with the routine. After taking the ring off and setting it down quite a distance from him, a familiar chip-like board clattered on the ground as the ring dimmed. This board was bigger than the first one they had received.

_Hey guys_, it read._ I met the traveler from Crypto who taught me how to use these boards. They're pretty cool. All you have to do is yell, "crype", and one will like, pop up in front of you. Then you'd, well, you'd kind of…pluck it out of the air in order to write on it. It was kind of scary the first time I tried it, the way the board would appear right in front of your face. I found out that everyone here in Crypto uses cryptography to access EVERYTHING – instead of having a PIN for a bank, keys for a car or house or even a diary, or a password to a computer, Cryptans (that's the people of Crypto) have to decode a message. The key to decode it is always the same, but the message is always different. These people have to make sure that the code they make cannot be guessed by anyone. If it is guessed, then, well, say goodbye to whatever that code was guarding. _

_So, this is how it works. Say you want to make a code for your car. First, you would touch the handle or door of the car and yell, "Crype!" And the "crype" (that's what the chip is called) would appear. On the crype would have written on it the alphabet and the 10 standard numbers. You write with the palm pilot pen thing the key you want. Take Saint Dane's message, for example. The crype would look like this:_

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

_Then under each letter, you'd write the letter it would stand for. The letters you write would be what the crype would use when displaying a code. I hope I'm making sense to you guys. So now the code would look like this:_

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 

B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1

_So the first word of Saint Dane's code was "_J'MM_", right? Look up J. See how it's under I? And then see how M is right under L? You get it? So what would happen is whatever key you input into the crype, that's what you'll be using forever for that object you're guarding. Then all you have to do, on the empty space left on the crype, is to write the object you're guarding in code, using the same key. So in the car example, under your key, you would write:_

DBS

_And voila! _

_Now to access it, touch the object you want to access, and yell, "Crype!" again. The crype would appear with a code, using the key. The code is always a randomly generated word. Remembering your key, you just decode the message. _

_So hopefully you understand. Now about the Traveler of Crypto…_

Authors note: Ok guys. I'm not sure what kind of character the Traveler at Crypto should be. I need your help. Should the Traveler be some really stuck-up girl? Or a beautiful one that Bobby falls in love with? (kind of clichéd though.) Or maybe some guy that seems like a really good friend? Or maybe a boy, same age as Bobby? You guys tell me.


	4. First Impressions

Ok, I loved all your suggestions for the Traveler. Unfortunately, I can only pick one, and there was one personality two people wanted to have. So majority rules. 

Also, when I said I'd post in another 3 months, well, I lied. Lol. I couldn't resist. I had to post again. But now, with finals coming in like a month and a half, I'm going to have to get down to business.

**First Impressions**

Journal continued 

Well, the Traveler, is, well…umm…yeah. He's…(yup, it's a he. Nothing to worry about, Courtney. ;)) well, read on. You'll find out his character soon enough…

So I was taking a look around Crypto, taking in the sights. It's pretty cool; I mean, the place looks pretty much like Second Earth, except there's no phone poles. These guys are pretty advanced. Kind of reminds me of Veelox. I want to go back to Veelox someday…

It is pretty cool, though. You see all the pedestrians walking on sidewalks, and you'd hear occasional shouts of "crype!" and then crypes popping up everywhere. It's pretty funny.

Amazed, I wasn't really aware of anyone following me; I sorta put down my defenses. But then, out of my peripheral vision, I see someone hiding behind a car. The guy's sort of looking over the car, like spying, I guess. When I turned over to look, he ducked out of sight. Weird, I said to myself.

Suspicious, but not too suspicious yet, I was still strolling through the territory, looking around, wondering where to start and how to start my adventures on such a place, until I saw him again. He wasn't hiding under anything this time; he was actually following me, bending low, and when I looked behind me, he quickly ran up to a flag pole and stood up straight, trying to hide behind it.

I nearly laughed at the sight; that flagpole was pretty thin, not the best hiding place, I'd say. But at my glimpse, I found out that he was wearing army clothes, like a camouflage outfit, and glasses with thick rims. But then, in the glimpse of him I did catch, I saw him carrying…

A gun.

At first, I didn't really take it in. I mean, I've met pretty crazy people since the beginning of my time as a Traveler, but they all turned out to be significant one way or another. I learned not to underestimate anyone. My first thoughts were, ok, he's carrying a gun. But then I snapped to reality – someone. Was. Carrying. A. Gun. And it looked like his gun was pointing toward...I gulped…

Me.

That brought me to my senses, and I started to grow nervous, wondering what this crazy guy's intentions were. Turning around, I walked faster. Maybe this guy's target was someone else. Someone around me. And I mistakened myself for his actual victim. Glancing around me, everyone else was busy, hurrying off to his or her destinations. Looking back at the flagpole, I saw the guy – he looked like a middle-aged man, short brown hair, and maybe half a head taller than me – peek out from behind the flagpole, and as I glared at him, he quickly put his head back.

As I swiveled back, turning away from the man, I heard a shout, and a loud one at that. "HALTTTTTTTT!" Turning back around, I see the camouflage man sprinting toward me. No one else seemed to notice. As I just stood there, stunned, too surprised to even move, the camouflage man stopped a few feet from me, got down on one knee, withdrew his gun, and, pointing it toward me…

He fired.

I screamed.


	5. The Beginning of the End

**Hey guys.**

**I just previewed my previous chapter and I realized how short it was. I'm really sorry about that. I guess a lot of people like long chapters; since it takes me a long time to update, I should update with longer chapters. That's the logic to it, isn't it?**

**And by the way, I decided to dedicate the end of each chapter to my reviewers and give some credit to them and stuff, if I remember.**

**Forget what I said about not updating until the summer; I guess I can't help myself but update.**

**Ok, so I left off from when the dude fired the gun.**

Instinctively I put my hands in front of my eyes and around my head, bracing for the impact. My eyes were tightly closed shut.

I imagined how it would be like to die, to feel life drift from you by the very second. Would it hurt? A lot? Or would it end quickly? I wondered if there was really a heaven or hell, and what they'd be like, and where I'd end up. Would the bullet hit my shoulder? My stomach? My leg? What spots are fatal?

A few minutes ticked by. _Why wasn't I feeling anything?_ I wondered. Slowly, I opened one eye. I couldn't see much with one eye open and my hands in front of my face, so I opened the other eye and cautiously lowered my hands.

The man was still kneeling there, his gun poised. Everyone around me stopped what he or she was doing. With wide-open eyes and raised eyebrows, leaving crypes in the air, they stared at me. Never before have I been more embarrassed, after I saw that what was coming out of the gun wasn't bullets; they were…

Bubbles. Soap bubbles.

I turned red in the face. I put all my defenses up because of a fake gun? That shoots _bubbles_? I nearly hit myself in the head, too embarrassed to laugh. The passersby resumed on their ways, and I could hear mutters of "idiot," and "guess he's new here." I guess this happened all the time. I wanted to dig a hole at that moment and just hide of embarrassment. I mean, seriously – the lead Traveler got all scared over a bubble gun. With nothing else to do, I turned my attention back to the man. He kept hitting his gun, like there was something wrong with it, muttering to himself.

"Stupid gun…don't they know already to make decent weapons for those brave souls risking their lives in the American Revolution? Those pesky, good-for-nothing lobsterbacks must've had something to do with it…" Realizing that this man was, well, a bit mentally ill, I tried to approach him, to maybe set his head straight or something. As I got closer to him, he began to back away. "No, oh no, you don't," the man said. "This war ain't over yet…"

Suddenly, I saw a faint glitter on his finger, something metal reflecting the sun's light. It was a ring.

A Traveler's ring.

I gasped in surprise. "That's right! Be intimidated!" the man said, thinking I gasped in fright of him. "I've still got lots of strength left in these old bones of mine- "

"Traveler!" I suddenly blurted out. "From Crypto! You're the Traveler of Crypto!"

"Christopher Columbus," the man looked surprise. "How in the world did you figure that out, sonny?" I instantly stuck out my hand with my Traveler ring. The man glanced at it then peered at my face, studying me closely. "My, my, Press, you look a lot younger than the last time we met."

I would have laughed at such a remark, but it brought back memories of that coolio uncle that now, well, was gone. Probably somewhere with my family. I shook the thought out of my head. "Well…umm…I'm not Press." The man raised an eyebrow. "He's, well, he's…gone, if you know what I mean. I'm his nephew." I looked down in remembrance of Uncle Press. My mind wandered back to the time I was fighting in Cloral. Press had risked his life to save me, because I was the idiot. The Cryptans were right to call me an idiot. They were merely pointing out the truth. Why couldn't I listen? Why did I always have to be so stubborn?

I had another flashback, the first time I found out I was a Traveler, when it didn't sink in yet. The first time I met Loor. I remember my relentless complains and fears and worries about being a Traveler, about entering the Traveler life. Before then, the only thing I had to lose was, well, a basketball game, really. And then…I just grew so scared when I had to leave that safe life to enter one where I had to put my life on the line, as well as yours, Courtney, and you too Mark, when ten whole territories lay on my shoulders. And risking your lives were already seen at our trip to Eelong, remember? I guess complaining so much after Press was captured, and even after Osa died saving _my life,_ did it bother Loor enough to finally get it through to me that all ten territories did not revolve around me; it wasn't my choice, but my obligation instead, and I better deal with it.

Those memories escaped back to the back of my head as I felt a firm hand shake my shoulder. "Hello?" I heard the man's voice. "Did the sounds of those cannons bust your eardrums, fella? If they did, I know some perfectly well-trained nurses that can help you…and pretty ones too, I might add…" the man had a dreamy expression. Then he snapped back to reality. "Anyways, I asked you a question before. You have some explaining to do about yourself. First of all, who are ya?"

"Pendragon," I replied. "Lead Traveler from Second Earth." Immediately, the man stood straight and saluted at the sound of "Lead."

"Lieutenant Pendragon, Arnedian at your service. But my friends call me Ardie." It was sort of a funny picture, because Ardie was looking down at me. I was pretty tall for my age, nearly 6 feet tall and only seventeen years old. Yet, Ardie looked 6 feet and 4 inches, about. He looks like one of those lanky guys that would need to duck to get through a doorway. I told him about what happened with Uncle Press, and Ardie's hardened face softened as I described the fateful events that tragic night.

Then he told me about the time he found out he was the Traveler of his own territory. His mom was part of the crew that managed the crype system and basically kept the system going. She was promoted to a pretty high status, until she suddenly disappeared. Because she held such an important job, her disappearance was a big problem. People couldn't use crypes all around the territory until a person fit to replace Ardie's mom could be found. It was sort of a "blackout" on Second Earth in the way that people of Second Earth rely so greatly on light, while Cryptans rely so greatly on their crypes.

Well, that was years ago, Ardie said. He's gotten over it. It was Uncle Press who appeared to him one night to deliver the ring and guided him along this Traveler business. Press had said that one day, his duty would be called by other Travelers to continue the fight against Saint Dane. And today was that day.

So it was then that Ardie explained everything about the crypes to me, and it was sooo cool. Being the inexperienced little Cryptan I was, I was placing crypes everywhere – on windows, on poles, on walls; it was fun. By the end of the day, I made myself a trail of crypes behind me, like the breadcrumbs that followed Hansel and Gretel. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that you can get rid of crypes too. All you would do is write KABOOM in the message. So using the code Saint Dane used, you would write:

LBCPPN

And the crype would just disappear, I guess. I was on a roll, "kaboom-ing" crypes everywhere. I was so amused by this. But then, as the day was drawing to an end, I realized I had to get down to business, to start what I needed to do on my time here at Crypto. I went to Ardie's home, and I told him I needed to talk to him and have a serious discussion. We sat down, and I didn't know how to begin to tell him that Saint Dane's next target is his very own territory.

So I just started with, "Ardie, we have to talk."

**Author's note: Well, I hope this chapter was long enough. It may be just decent length compared to others, but hey, it's long according to my standards. P Now to have a chat with my reviewers…:**

**Realfanficts – I will update my other stories, just not anytime soon. Maybe in a month or two. My other fanfic, The Unexpected Attack, should be finished in a few chapters, but it depends on how many twists I want to add in it, I don't even know what I want to happen in the next chapter, because I usually improvise. The Dear Diary story will take a longer time for me to figure out how I want the story to go, but the next chapter for that one won't be too hard to write.**

**Toa Inika Kongu – haha, nice review. Takes knife and pretends to stab someone with it, instead uses it to vigorously dip the knife in some jelly spread and spreads it on some bread**

**I give the credit to Ember Nickel and Realfanficts for their great ideas for the Traveler; their ideas were the ones I used for this story. Thanks to DracosDiva, Shadowlover101, and Toa Inika Kongu, all your entries were great, still, but I couldn't pick everyone.**


	6. Memories

**Again, my usual sorry note to my readers. I hope you all still read my fanfic, despite how long it's been. I'm really sorry, but there has been lots of computer trouble. But finally, I have my whole story planned out; I know how it'll end and stuff, so I won't have to improvise anymore. The question is, will I be able to get it down effectively on paper?**

**Memories**

I told Ardie that the war of the Travelers was going to come to his territory, and he looked a bit excited. He was like one of those old "loons" that still sorta live in the past.

"At last! I take revenge! First I'll knock Saint Dane's head with my musket, then I'll-"

"Ardie!" I exclaimed. "We can't just barge in fighting. Saint Dane's a powerful man, more powerful than you think." Speaking to him like this reminded me of Loor, the way she thought fighting was the solution to everything.

"Well then, Lieutenant Pendragon," he said with a huff. "I'm assuming then that you have a battle plan laid out for us, assembled our army, and equipped them with the necessary armor and weapons."

I sighed with exasperation. "Ardie, if you want to defeat Saint Dane, you have to understand how powerful he really is. But I don't have time to show you and make you understand his capabilities. So you're going to have to see for yourself."

"Humph. Fine." Ardie stood up. "I'll go to my room then. Good night." And with his head held high, he strutted out of the room. I groaned and ran my hands through my hair in frustration. Ardie's stubbornness reminded me of Spader for a moment. After a few seconds of self-pity wondering again why I was chosen to be the lead Traveler, I followed him out, ready to compromise. When I found him, he was standing in front of a door, staring at the crype he solved to get into his room. Apparently, Ardie was paranoid enough to lock his own rooms although he lived alone. "Strange code," he scratched his head. "Usually the computer generated word for these things…make sense. But what in the name of Patrick Henry himself is a veelox?"

I was stunned for a moment. He quickly grabbed the crype out of Ardie's hand. Without a doubt, there were the words:

**VEELOX**

Ardie just shrugged and walked in the room he just opened. A second later, he walked out, looking embarrassed. "Whoops," he said, scratching his head, with his other hand on his hips. "Wrong room. Where is my room again?" I was too overcome by the strange crype message to notice how Ardie could have gotten, well, lost in his own house.

"A-A-Ardie, Veelox is a territory, the first territory Saint Dane collapsed. Maybe it's a clue to the turning point on Crypto." I started to look nervous. I thought Saint Dane would probably use the same Veelox tactics and use it to destroy Crypto, since Veelox was the only territory he collapsed…

Ardie shrugged. "Doesn't mean nuttin' to me, soldier." He walked at the end of the hallway and opened the door to his right by solving the crype. "Ah ha, I am victorious! If only conquering Great Britain was as easy as this," he muttered.

"Uh, hey," I said, finally looking up from the crype with the "veelox message, wondering if the crype that Ardie just solved was another clue, "what was the code you just solved on your crype?"

"Uh, the crype said, _crype system_. Why?"

My face suddenly went from an expression of concern to one of complete shock. "SHIIIIIIIIITACKY MUSHROOMS! Ardie, take me to the crype system now!"

"Woah, whatsa matter, mate?"

"Don't you understand? Saint Dane's heading for the crype system, and I think he's got some sort of bug that can destroy it. Now come on!"

"Ok, ok, hold your horses. We'll get there soon enough, trooper. But what the heck is a shitacki mushroom?"

In what seemed like a half an hour, we got to the crype system in a Crypto vehicle, which is pretty neat, I have to add. Crypto vehicles were like a sphere that was vertically flattened out, like a really thick plate of pizza standing on its end. The top half of the front of the vehicle is a glass windshield. You're sort of strapped standing up. To control direction and speed, there's this round ball, where half of it is protruding the surface in front of the driver, and it was able to be spun freely. You know the computer mice with balls on the bottom? If you move the mouse on a flat surface, it would slide the ball and cause the cursor on the computer screen to move. And remember Mark, when I used to go over your house and we used to control the cursor of your computer by flipping the mouse over and just moving the ball? Yeah, that was what it was like.

But I had no time to marvel over Crypto cars at the moment. We were racing against time to find Saint Dane, where I guessed was at the crype system. There was a possibility that he was bringing the Reality Bug from Veelox to Crypto. Didn't he do something similar at Eelong, when he brought the poison from Cloral? Sorry to have brought it up guys, I owe you a lot for getting the antidote and all. But please, Mark and Courtney, don't use the flumes again, or mix up the territories. I cannot afford to lose any more Travelers. Again, I'm not blaming anything on you, ok? Just…don't forget.

The car stopped, Ardie unstrapped himself, and he stepped out. I was about to do the same when I looked up at the crype system.

What I saw couldn't have been possible. No, it couldn't. That building - that so called crype system…

I stumbled out of the car and stared up at it in fear.

The building looked exactly like the black LifeLight pyramid from Veelox.

History was repeating itself; Saint Dane was haunting me with my very own memories of failure.

Little did I know that more shocking news was going to follow, but I'll leave it for the next journal. I don't want to scare you guys with so much news.

It was times like this where I questioned my own authority, wondering if the luck that saved my butt for the past territories would hold out this time.

**Alright, time for you guys to feedback and HONESTLY tell me how this chapter was. **

**Thanks to Jason Kent (please keep reviewing, your reviews make me laugh), Uchiha James (hope Frederick didn't hurt me), IdiotAmerica56 (thanks for checking out my fanfic), EmberNickel (you rock), DracosDiva (hope you keep reviewing), and realfanficts (I owe you and EmberNickel for producing Ardie) for reviewing last time!**

**Keep reading!**


	7. A Second Chance

**A Second Chance**

**Hey readers. I haven't updated for such a long time. And you all should expect that, though. Heh. The computer that I saved all my work – my chapters from all my stories, and even my synopsis (yea, realfanficts, I finally found a way to get this story from point A to point B.) – was reinstalled, and everything was lost. So now I'm just writing out of memory…oye.**

I was frightened to go in the building that so resembled Veelox. I felt afraid that inside, there would be the same crazy-obsessed people fighting over each other to experience their own fantasy world. I didn't want to face another failure.

"Such an interesting place, Crypto," Ardie's voice came behind me. "Almost just like the territory…Veelox."

I whipped around to see Ardie, only I knew it wasn't him; it was Saint Dane. He showed his icy, nearly white eyes. I just stared, stunned, and then stumbled backwards. Bad move. I had just shown Saint Dane he surprised me; I had revealed a weakness. But I straightened up. "I thought being an acolyte was good enough for you," I said, recalling the time on Eelong when Saint Dane took on the form of Yorn, Seegen's acolyte.

"But I was so good at being acolyte, no? I thought I'd kick it up a notch." Ardie smiled. "I laid so many clues for you, Pendragon. I thought the mistake I made in Eelong, when I accidentally let it slip that I saw Gunny's hand at the tang attack when I previously said I wasn't there, would have made you aware. I guess I overestimated you." Then Saint Dane laughed. I hate it when the bad guy laughs, because that means he knows something that you don't. Saint Dane has laughed one too many times during this crazy mission for Halla, and it was starting to annoy me. "Do you honestly think a Traveler from Crypto would know anything of the history of Second Earth?"

Then it hit me. As much as I hated admitting it, he was right; it couldn't have been more obvious. All those times Ardie, or Saint Dane, yelled Christopher Colombus, or Patrick Henry, or anything of the British, dated back even before Third Earth, but the events were recorded in school textbooks all around. I wanted to scream at myself, and call myself an idiot, but that wouldn't have been cool in front of Saint Dane. So I just held my tongue.

"What was that Second Earth children's rhyme? Oh yes…run, run, as fast as you can," Saint Dane cackled as he walked to the entrance of the Lifelight pyramid. "You can't catch me…I'm the gingerbread man!" Then Saint Dane started to change. His physical appearance began to melt, until he was just a puddle of nothing. I half expected him to turn into a gingerbread man; that would have been funny. Instead, he sprouted black wings and feathers. He was turning into his ever-so-famous image of the black bird. I hoped he ran into a telephone pole.

But enough trying to wish bad fortune onto that evil demon; I knew I had no choice but enter the pyramid and reface my dreadful past.

I reached the black doors at the base of the pyramid. There was no handle, so I tried to push them open. The doors wouldn't budge. I pushed harder. Still no luck. I tried to pull a Jackie Chan and attempted to jump and kick the doors down, but this thing was solid metal. Then, I noticed a small crype at the side of the doors. The crype read:

**WXEV**

I stared at the code. There was no way I was going to solve these crypes on my own; who knows how many other thousands of crypes there might be inside the building? I needed help. My first thought was going to get you guys. But I immediately erased that thought when I recalled the events on Eelong. Acolytes weren't allowed to travel through flumes. No; I needed a Traveler. So I rushed off to the flume on Crypto, which wasn't too far away. I hoped the Traveler that I knew who was fit for this job wasn't too busy to help. I stared down to the dark depths of the flume and yelled, "Veelox!" The jumble of notes came up, and I waited for the invisible force to drag me into the flume. Before I left Veelox that day when the territory collapsed, Aja Killian told me she wanted a second chance at Saint Dane.

She was about to get it.

"Bobby, darling!" Evangeline opened the door as soon as I rang. "How are you?"

"I need to talk to Aja," I quickly said.

"Traveler business?" Evangeline asked.

"Yup."

"Wait here a few minutes, and I'll get her."

A few minutes later, Aja came down. When I saw her, I was surprised.

"Something wrong, Pendragon?" Aja asked, hands on her hips.

I gulped. "Uh, you…l-look different."

But she looked more than different. Her short, blond, stubby hair that was always tied in a ponytail was now long and beautifully straight, although still in a ponytail. She had side bangs that covered her eyes, giving her a mysterious and beautiful look. Her glasses were gone. Was there such a thing as contacts on Veelox? Time in Veelox must have gone fast.

"Well, I'm glad for the reunion. But after all that traveling, Bobby, wouldn't you like some gloid?" Evangeline was all cheery, as usual.

Later, we had a meal of gloid. Aja finished early and asked to be excused. Then later it was just me and Evangeline. "You know," Evangeline chuckled, "ever since she got over Saint Dane being here, she's been caring about her looks. She didn't want to cut her hair, which was unusual, because she never liked long hair. She always said it got in the way of her work."

"Oh yeah?" I said, then scooped a spoonful of gloid.

"Yeah," she said. "Then she gave me this nonsense saying how you were going to give her a second chance at Saint Dane. 'Then why do you need to look all nice?' I would ask. She wouldn't answer me, but I think I just found my answer." Evangeline looked behind me. There was Aja. She had let her hair down, and it was recently combed. "Aja dear, did you put on makeup?" Aja blushed.

"Just a little."

"Well, go on, Bobby, Aja's waiting. Go talk Traveler's business now. And make sure you don't do anything wild."

"Evangeline!" Aja and I shouted in unison.

"Hey, I'm just concerned for the well being of my fellow Travelers," Evangeline said matter-of-factly. We knew she was joking. "Crazy teenagers," she muttered loud enough for us to hear, then laughed.

"So," Aja broke the awkward silence. "Tell me what's going on in Crypto."

So I told her everything – about the crypes and the crype system, Ardie being Saint Dane, even how Crypto was so similar to Veelox. I told her I would need her help in cracking some codes. Then I told her about the code to get in the pyramid: WXEV. "Can you crack the code?"

"Well," she said, tying up her hair, getting down to business. "For a four letter word, there are four hundred fifty-six thousand nine hundred seventy six different combinations, or twenty-six to the forth power, taking account ever letter of the alphabet, assuming the letters can repeat. But this code, W-X-E-V, narrows it down to one. It's just a matter of time and logic to find the right pattern to decipher the code."

"Uh, yeah, ok," I said. "Yeah, I get it." I didn't get it. But I didn't want to act dumb.

"Let's see," she scribbled on some paper. Every once in a while, she would scribble something out and mutter to herself. After one or two minutes, she looked up. "Got it," she said, and pointed to her paper. I looked at it. She didn't write much; there were just a few letters and numbers here and there. But there was one word written in all caps in the middle of the paper:

**STAR**

"That's it?" I said. "Star?"

"Yup," Aja smiled. "Cake."

Now that's what I wanted to hear. I knew I picked the right Traveler.

I'm writing this journal in Dr. Kree Sever's home, but I shouldn't call it that, since Evangeline and Aja had been living in it for a couple of years now. Aja showed me a room to sleep in for the night, and I started my journal. "Oh, and Bobby," Aja turned right before she left. "Thanks for the second chance." She winked.

"Uh, y-yeah, n-no problem," I said. She left as I stared after her, watching her leave. For a few seconds, I lied on the bed, my hands under my head. I have to come to Veelox again after this crazy adventure is over.

After a day of resting up and eating gloid (avoiding the blue, of course), we're going to head for the crype system, or the Lifelight pyramid; whatever you want to call it.

And so we go.

**End of Journal**

Courtney stopped reading. There was a lot to digest in that journal. So many things troubled her.

But there was one thing that troubled Courtney the most. "Why Aja?" she huffed. "That showoff. Bobby would have been better off without her."

Mark sensed Courtney's usual jealousy. "Courtney, you know Aja was the best choice. I mean, I didn't even know that twenty-six to the fourth power was four hundred fifty-six thousand nine hundred seventy-six at the top of my head. Aja's the best Traveler for the job, and you know it."

Courtney couldn't argue with Mark's logic. She never could. Mark always won in arguments like these. The only time she won was when she convinced him and Spader to mix territories and bring the antidote of the Cloral poison to Eelong, and it ended in disaster. Mark was always right. "Ok, fine," Courtney said. "I'm tired of arguing and losing against you. I'll just spill the truth. The real reason I don't want Aja to go with Bobby is because…because…oh, you know, Mark! I love him! I love Bobby, and he's always off in his Traveler stuff, and there's so many other girls, like Loor, and Aja, and he always talks about how beautiful they are in front of me, and…and…oh, this is so frustrating!" Mark never understood girls, but he's been Courtney's friend for a couple of years to know how to comfort her.

"Courtney," Mark started. "Has Bobby ever kissed Loor or Aja the way he did when you confessed your love to him?"

"No, but Loor-"

"Has Bobby known them as long as he's known you, since he was in fourth grade?"

"Well, no, but I mean-"

"Does Bobby know you love him, and does he trust you enough that he'll tell his true feelings to you, about all the girls he meets, and still trust you to love him no matter what, as he loves you just as much?"

Courtney was stunned. Mark was right again, but this time she was happy that he was. "Yeah," she said. "Thanks for that." She smiled.

Mark was a bit shocked at himself; he had comforted Courtney in a girl/boy problem, an area of social life that he thought he would never confront. Was he really maturing? He noticed in school that he wasn't afraid of girls as much anymore; he's actually talked to a few, and his room wasn't as messy as it used to.

_I'm changing_, Mark thought to himself.

Wow, this is the longest chapter I ever wrote. I was about to stop it in the middle, but decided against it. I am really behind in my summer work; still have a book to read, an essay to write, a Spanish book to comprehend, Spanish essay to write, History project to do, and I need to get my driver's manual…starting Driver's Ed next year! D So as usual, honest opinion, if you guys want me to write better. Oh and by the way, try to figure out the pattern to get from WXEV to STAR. It's really easy. Should take like 3 seconds.

Thanks to Uchiha James, Ember Nickel, IdiotAmerica56, James Kent, and realfanficts for reviewing. James, haha, protect me from Frederick. Ember Nickel, I never thought of Veelox and Eelong sounding alike, but that's really cool… IdiotAmerica56, heh heh you can stop begging now. Jason Kent, ROFL another awesome funny review; I'm looking forward to another one. Realfanficts, I'm glad you finally got the chance to read my last chapter. Thanks to all!


	8. The crype system

**Hey guys, I was going to wait for more people to review my last chapter, but eh…it was taking too long. So I'm gonna update. **

**This chapter might be a bit more boring than the rest.**

The Crype System 

Aja and I rode the flume back to Crypo, ready to test out her code. She had translated WVEX to STAR, and I really hoped it worked. I've seen too many movies where the good guys had one shot to guess a password to some secret door, and if they guess wrong, they're fried. I shivered and pushed that thought out of my head. I trusted Aja enough to put my life in her hands.

Flying down the flume was the perfect opportunity to just sit back, relax, and just think. And that's exactly what I did. The answer to the code for the crype system was STAR; it seemed strange to me. So simple, yet so symbolic, too. There were stars on the gates to signify the location of the flume. It was like a sanctuary when I needed to escape. The first time I remember being a Traveler, I escaped Saint Dane by traveling to Denduron. Uncle Press saved me that time. I recalled saying how Denduron would be my favorite word if it got me out of there.

Sometimes the star was my key to home. After I had gotten on Denduron, I wanted so desperately to go back. "Earth! New York! The subway! There's no place like home!" The sound of my voice 3 years ago was just now a distant cry in my head.

But the star wasn't always a symbol I was glad to see. There was the time Saint Dane used it to send a shark quig from Cloral as an attempt to kill me on Denduron, there was the time Saint Dane sent bullets from gangsters in First Earth that killed Uncle Press, and there was the time when you guys used the flume, which resulted in Saint Dane coming to Second Earth and giving you that horrid gift of Gunny's hand. No, the star wasn't all good.

Maybe I was just thinking too much; STAR in this case was just a word, a password to get into the crype system. No more, right? But I knew. I knew it was more than just a word. It was my confirmation that I was a Traveler, and I don't know if that was a good thing. I mean, it's good to save Halla and all, but I don't think there should be so much pressure put on just a teenager like me.

Soon enough, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. My flume-ride-for-deep-thinking was coming to an end. I led Aja to the crype system. When it came into view, I kept walking to the door to enter the password. But then I realized that Aja wasn't following me. I looked back. "You coming or wha-" I stopped myself. Aja was looking up at the crype system.

"We're not on the right territory. We're still on Veelox," she said, troubled. Whoops. I forgot to explain her the whole crype-sytem-looks-like-Lifelight deal.

"I know; weird, right? But that's the Crypto crype system."

"No, it isn't," she shot back. "That's Lifelight!"

I sighed. "Look around you, Aja. Does this look like Veelox?"

"Well, no, but Life-"

"So let's give it a try, alright?" Without waiting for an answer, I walked back to the entrance, and she followed. We huddled around the crype. "STAR, right?"

"Yup," she said. "No mistakes. There's no telling what will happen if your finger slips."

"Yeah, yeah, I already thought about that, and I thought up of a solution. Ladies first," I gestured to the crype and smiled.

Aja gave an exasperated sigh. "Not funny, Pendragon."

"Please, call me Bobby," I said, and laughed. "Ok, ok, I'll do it." I felt the edges of the crype and felt the little palm pilot pen. Slowly and tentatively, I spelled out STAR. Each letter glowed a light blue color. I waited for the crype doors to open. Without even the slightest whisper, the doors opened. But instead of sliding out to the left and right though, like automatic sliding doors on Second Earth, the top layer of the door slid up and the bottom layer slid down into the ground somewhere. That was weird; before, I could have sworn they open left and right. There was even a line between them to show where both doors would separate. I guess it was sort of an optical-illusion security thing. At any rate, I wouldn't want to get stuck with both legs straddled across the crype system doors while it was having an emergency shutdown or something. That would hurt. With one leap, I jumped into the building. Aja looked at me weirdly as she calmly strolled through. I turned back to take my first glimpse of the inside of the crype system, and I gasped.

I expected the inside to be full of computers, wires, desks, people talking on phones, and all that electronic stuff. But what I saw inside was a huge shock. I was standing on the top of a mountain, and I saw everything else – all the equipment and structures – when I looked down. This was what it was like in Faar on Cloral! Faar was built on a mountain. But on Crypto, I guess since the land was always elevated outside, I'm assuming that all this was all below sea level, like a giant hole was dug, and the giant hole is hidden from the rest of Crypto because of the huge Lifelight looking structure outside. Instead of the lush green fields and the waterfalls on Faar though, there was just dirt, and some people sat in vehicles that looked like bulldozers. I assumed they were digging. As I took a few steps down, I saw huge open containers of a brick-red, dusty substance that filled them to the brim. At first, I was too amazed at how the inside of the crype system looked to notice what that was. But soon enough, the sight struck something from my memory.

"Tak," I whispered. "From Denduron."

Saint Dane was combining the territories.

**Sorry guys, this chapter is kinda short, and it's not that good. / Well please R&R, and shoot some ideas out for what you want to happen next; I'll be willing to listen, and I could also change my idea of the outcome of the story. Thanks to realfanficts, IdiotAmerica56, and EmberNickel for reviewing!**


	9. Saint Dane again

OMGsh. Do you guys have any idea how long it's been since my last update??? 8 months. I know I never updated frequently, but at least I've updated once a month, on average. But 8 months?? -- I was reminded to update when someone reviewed. Then I was all, heyy I'm in a middle of a fanfic…

Overhead, I heard a buzzing sound that was growing louder and louder. Looking up, I saw a plane. In the middle of a building. That was how big this place was. But it wasn't any old plane. It looked strangely familiar…

And then memories came back once more – parachute, NYC, Max Rose, the works. This was no ordinary plane; no siree, this was the plane of Jinx Olsen.

But confronting Saint Dane on 7 territories wasn't all for nothing. I knew better now. A closer look showed me the whiteness in her pupils. The plane took a land in a station somewhere on the top of the hill Aja and I were standing on. Saint Dane was here, coming to taunt us again.

"Like my artwork, Pendragon?" Saint Dane said with a smile. "Personally, I think it's a masterpiece."

"Looks more like a junkyard," I muttered.

Saint Dane continued. "It's so full of surprises, don't you think? Tak from Denduron, planes from Third Earth, Lifelight from Veelox, Land like Faar…oh, and I wonder what's from Second Earth." At that moment, as if it was planned, the famous Courtney Chetwynde was being carried out into my field of vision by gars from Eelong. She looked unconscious.

"Courtney!!!" I yelled while racing to her. Aja followed close behind. But as I did so, the gars jumped in front of her. "Don't touch her," one gar said calmly. I tried pushing past, but this gar was strong. "I said, don't touch. Do you not understand me?" I was stunned. He spoke perfect English!

I was not about to be bossed around by some gar. But I had been on Eelong far too long to hurt one; in my mind, gars were intelligent and gentle creatures. But once that opinion changed, I was ready to kick gar butt.

I stared at Courtney, occasionally shifting my gaze to the watchful gars, trying to work out a plan. "What do you want?" I nearly spit out the words to Saint Dane.

"Oh, you know what I want, Pendragon. There is so much for you to learn about Travelers, about territories, and most of all, about me. Did you ever wonder what it's like to be able to change shape, to control the flumes, to bring myself from the dead? Have you ever gotten a taste of such immense power?" For a second, Saint Dane looked so immersed in his own fantasy as his eyes sparkled. "I made power. I am power. Nothing in any territory's history has had any more power than me. Pendragon, with your abilities, you and I can do great things. Together, we can be the rulers of Halla! I bring the opportunity to you again and again, but still you turn me down. I warn you how much of a fool you are, Pendragon, to not even consider the offer."

I barely listened to his speech, and was still looking at the gars. But out of my peripheral, I noticed movement. Aja hadn't said a word since then, and I knew why – she was busy with other things on her mind. Apparently, Saint Dane was so concentrated on me that he was not aware that Aja was here. Although I had no clue on what Aja was up to, I knew she needed one thing – time. So I stalled.

"How is kidnapping Courtney going to do anything?" I asked.

"Oh, just making things fun," he grinned. "Let's see how long Courtney can survive being buried under a pile of tak. Will she suffocate first, or will she die when the tak explodes in, say, 10 Second Earth minutes? What lovely ways to die, don't you think, Pendragon?"

I couldn't hold in my anger any longer after I heard him threaten you, Courtney. With a yell, I made an attempt to leap at Saint Dane. But my jump fell short, when I felt two gars grab a hold of me from behind. But I was raging like the Hulk at the moment, and with a wild thrash, I easily knocked the gars away. As they let go, I felt a static shock on my left arm. Without thinking, I threw a punch at Saint Dane. With an "oof," he fell a few feet away. I whipped around to see the gars that I knocked down lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. What was their problem? But my question was quickly answered when I saw a thin black string no thicker than a hair connected on their backs leading to…somewhere. Then it hit me.

The black string was a wire.

Something electronic was controlling these gars, and the wires must lead to some central power supply or something. That must have been what was Aja searching for. I glanced down the mountain to see Aja scurrying across the field, dodging bulldozers and other machinery. But Saint Dane already woke up from the punch and was coming after me. I trusted that Aja knew what she was doing. I had no time to rush down with her, but I didn't want to deal with Saint Dane anymore.

It was just my luck that an airplane came zooming over my head. It wasn't going fast at all, but then again, how fast can an airplane run in a building? Without having time to calculate the risk, I caught the airplane's wing and swung myself into the cockpit. Startled, the cockpit yelled, "What do you think you're doing here?"

Emulating James Bond (or what I remember of him), I threw a punch at the driver of the plane. "The names Pendragon," I yelled over the noise of the propeller as I heaved the captain out of the plane. "Bobby Pendragon."

From the cockpit, I heard a slight buzz as Aja completed her job and emerged from some room in the corner of the building. The gars went down as Aja cut off the power supply or whatever. Flying down the mountain, I lowered to the ground and told Aja to get on while taking flight once more. From watching Jinx, I had barely any experience of flying, but I knew enough to aim the plane directly at Saint Dane.

"On the count of three," I calmly told Aja, "We're going to jump out. Do you hear me?"

"You must be out of your mind!" she yelled back.

"One…"

"Pendragon, I can't!"

"Hold on to my hand! Two…"

"Bobby –"

"Three!" Aja screamed as I pulled her out and jumped off the plane, crashing to the floor. Racing away as fast as we could, I heard the plane crash to the ground as it hit its target.

But I then realized my big mistake.

The plane and Saint Dane were rolling down the mountain…toward the mounds of tak.

And I forgot to get Courtney.


	10. Power

**Power**

**Okay, here's the last chapter. Finally I can finish this story and write about something else. heh. Enjoy…**

Saint Dane and the plane Aja and I just jumped out of rolled to the bottom of the hill, triggering the tak. Soundless as tak was, a conflagration rapidly spread throughout the building without a sound. Determined to find and save Courtney, I headed in the direction of the fire.

"Bobby, no!" Aja yelled, grabbing my arm. "We have to get out of here!" The building began to crumble, and a piece of glass fell right in front of me. One cut into my leg, leaving a deep cut. The entire building was nearly engulfed in flames, with me and Aja still inside. I stopped in my tracks, and stared once more into the flames, thinking that if Saint Dane ever emerged out of the fire, I would kill him with whatever it took, to avenge Courtney. Then without looking back, I ran with Aja to the entrance where she typed in STAR. Coughing from the fumes, we stumbled out of the building and sprinted as far away as we possibly could when it burst into flames a few moments later.

We ran until we were sure we were safe, but I couldn't stop. The memories of Courtney kept running through my head, as I thought to avenge her with whatever it took. "Bobby…" Aja panted. "Stop running…" I didn't want to listen to her, but I slowed down anyway and turned around. Frustrated at the loss of Courtney, tears furiously rolled down my cheeks. "Running from regrets won't do anything," she said, catching her breath. She knew what I was thinking.

"I know," I breathed. After stopping, I realized how tired I was. She smiled and put her hand on mine. That calmed me down.

But then she gasped. "Bobby." I looked up. "The cut on your leg from the glass…it's gone." She then looked at her arm, startled, as if something just appeared on her wrist, but nothing was there. "Oh my gosh…"

"What?" I was totally confused. I suddenly felt something heavy on my wrist. It was a control bracelet from Veelox! But that couldn't be. This could only mean one thing…

"We're in a jump," Aja whispered, stunned. "I'll get us out of here," she said. Pressing a few buttons on the controller, everything went black.

A few minutes later, I slid out of the Veelox compartment and into the inside of Lifelight. I was so confused.

"What the…where is…how did we-"

Aja shushed me. "I think I have it all figured out," Aja said.

"No surprise," I muttered.

"This is Saint Dane's territory now," she explained, "and apparently virtual reality is no longer. Everything you think up in a jump is true, and Saint Dane has the power to corrupt people's virtual world. Just like what happened last time you were on this territory, when a phader was eaten by your quig, Pendragon, we can die in Lifelight. I guess that was Saint Dane's intentions." With a grim expression, she showed me a scratch on her palm from the explosion.

Her scratch looked deep. I felt sympathy for a second, but then I remembered my cut and looked at my leg. My pants were still torn, but the cut was no longer there. "If you still have your cut, why don't I still have mine?" I was still as confused as ever.

"When I saw that your cut was gone, I was sure that we were in a jump, so that's how we got out," Aja elucidated. "I didn't know everything was real yet. But after, my cut was still here. I guess you're just a fast healer."

The whole healing thing came up again. For some reason, Travelers were fast healers. But I've never healed this fast, and a cut never completely disappeared; there was always a scar.

I guess I was getting better at this healing stuff.

I shrugged, and decided to change the topic. "Back in the jump," I reminded her. "How did you deactivate the gars?"

"There was a code," she responded. No surprise. After all, the "territory" was called Crypto. "The clue was, 'power.'"

"Power?? How were you supposed to decode that?" I had no idea what the word could have been.

"Well, unlike you, I actually listen to people when they're talking, especially when Saint Dane revealed the answer to his own code," she rolled her eyes. I traced my memory back to when Saint Dane was ranting about wanting me to turn to his side again. His words echoed in my head.

_Did you ever wonder what it's like to be able to change shape, to control the flumes, to bring myself from the dead? Have you ever gotten a taste of such immense power? I made power. I am power. Nothing in any territory's history has had any more power than me._

"Saint Dane!" I exclaimed.

Aja winked. "Bingo."

I'm back at Aja's home now, finishing up the last of the journal. Courtney, I guess you were an illusion that Saint Dane conjured up, because we tried looking for you afterwards. You were nowhere to be found.

I hope you guys are okay back at home. Watch your backs, okay? I can't emphasize this enough. Saint Dane is a tricky guy, I admit. He could be anyone. There's no telling where he'll appear next.

Till then, don't forget to study hard, exercise, and don't have too much fun without me, alright?

Miss you guys.

**Finally, it's finished. I finished it right after I put up the last chapter, because I knew if I waited for reviews before writing, I would be too lazy to write again. Sorry if it sucks, but hey, I really wanted to get it over with. Please read and review and be as harsh as you want with comments, because I know this ending wasn't the best. **

**Thanks to all my reviewers!!**


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